Year: 2013

Impact Lab > 2013
Analysis, Globalism, Internet, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The broadband future is faster, but still not distributed evenly

Broadband connections over 10Mbps dubbed high broadband.

The number of broadband connections over 10 Mbps — dubbed “high broadband,” has grown by 73 percent from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of 2012, according to the latest data from Akamai.  The U.S. has also see a 20 percent overall increase in average speed  to 7.2 Mbps over the past year, but the number of people who have adopted broadband (measured at anything above 4 Mbps) was 62 percent, which puts the U.S. at No. 12 in the worldwide rankings when it comes to adoption and No. 9 when it comes to average speeds.

 

 

Continue reading… “The broadband future is faster, but still not distributed evenly”

government, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News, Spirituality

Germany passes ‘Circumcision Law” after outcry

A religious circumcision.

The Bundestag hurriedly passed some strange new legislation last month: the “Circumcision Law.”   The law guarantees the right for parents to have their children circumcised. This was the government’s answer to a passionate and uncomfortable five-month debate over the practice, in which religious minorities and their supporters clashed with a cabal of doctors and politicians over tolerance versus children’s rights.

Analysis, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend, Plant Life, Science & Technology News

When trees die so do people

When the U.S. Forest Service looked at mortality rates in counties affected by the emerald ash borer, they found increased mortality rates among people.

In June 2002 was when the blight was first detected in the trees in Canton, Michigan.  The emerald ash borer had come from overseas and was quickly spreading – a literal bug – across state and national lines to Ohio, Minnesota, and Ontario.  It spread to more distant and seemingly random locations as the infested trees were shipped beyond the Midwest.

 

 

 

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Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Economy, Entertainment, Historical Perspectives, Money Talk, New Discoveries, People Making a Difference

Bitcoin-based casino rakes in more than $500,000 profit in six months

Bitcoins are completely digital, so you can’t spend actual ones like these (non-digital ones) at a digital casino.

As various tech companies report their fourth-quarter 2012 earnings numbers this week, so are two gray-market, Bitcoin-based casinos—and one is turning profits in the hundreds of thousands of dollars after only six months of being in business

Recently, both SatoshiDice and bitZino released their financials. If these self-reported earnings are to be trusted (and the companies say they are, given that a Bitcoin block chain can be read by anyone), then running a Bitcoin-based casino yields a tidy profit.

“These tiny startups are hitting some major online casino pain points, they’re crushing it on those fronts and as an entrepreneur, I think that’s rad—they are leveraging a disruptive technology to try and kick a large-scale industry in the balls,” said Peter Vessenes, the CEO of CoinLab, a Bitcoin-based business, which got $500,000 of venture capital last year.

 

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Architecture, Photo Perspectives, Science & Technology News

World’s first 3D building will be ready in 2014

3D printed house

3D printing can be fun and cute. Products like the Makerbot and Form 1 will most certainly disrupt manufacturing, even if it’s only on a small scale. But the possibilities of 3D printing stretch far beyond DIY at-home projects. In fact, it could entirely replace the construction industry. (Pics)

 

 

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Analysis, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

Egypt’s great male crisis

Great male crisis

There is a huge debate in western societies regarding what is called “The great male crisis”.  The argument is simple: Men are quickly falling behind women,  In the western societies that promote gender equality and free education, women are becoming better educated than men and are earning more.  Boys aren’t faring as well as girls in school and college education, and this is being reflected in the job market.

 

 

 

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Birth, Crazy Stuff, Science & Technology News

Harvard geneticist looking for ‘adventurous’ woman to give birth to a Neanderthal baby

Recreation of Neanderthal child.

Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School is looking for an “adventurous” woman to give birth to a baby Neanderthal.  It sounds like the plot of another Jurassic Park sequel, but the request is actually part of Professor Church’s real-life plan to bring our long-extinct relative back to life.

Business, Internet, Science & Technology News

France proposes to tax the internet

France proposes an internet tax on American companies collecting personal data.

France is seeking new ways to raise funds.  Because of frustration with American technology companies that dominate its digital economy which are largely beyond the reach of fiscal authorities, France has proposed a new levy.  They are proposing an internet tax on the collection of personal data.

 

 

 

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Analysis, Brain, Science & Technology News

Are people with a high IQ less creative?

Albert Einstein

Lewis Terman believed that only knowing the IQ of a person could predict their success in life and this potential could be measured since childhood.  That is why he sent his colleagues to California schools and gave the children a few IQ tests, identifying 1500 children whose IQs averaged 150 points.

He took for granted that these children were going to make great contributions to their disciplines in the future.

 

 

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